- October 25, 2018 -

"Most conversations about social media just nauseate me."

Being a long-time follower of Dan Kennedy, I'm not surprised in the least that he made this comment.

He goes on to say that in his opinion, Facebook (which interestingly enough hit its stride right about the time of the economic crash of 2008) is a gargantuan productivity suck.

And that its energy-wasting distractions bleed your focus and leave you broke.

So, tell us what you really think, Dan!

I agree with him so I guess that makes us both anti-social dinosaurs on the brink of extinction.

There's no way on God's green earth [...]

- October 18, 2018 -

The political pundits have finally exhausted their "He said, She said" grandstanding on the recent Brett Kavanaugh nomination and have moved on to their next "crisis."

As much as I'd like to,  I'm definitely not opening up that can of worms.

Moving on.

It wasn't long after I entered the online marketing space and started to gain followers and clients that it dawned on me...

Anyone could potentially say anything they wanted about me or my business.

And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

Stuff they'd never say in person -- but somehow felt it was okay to [...]

- October 16, 2018 -

First, cross-selling. Not cross-dressing.

Now that we're on the same page...

Ask your local spa owner for a list of customers who've come in for a facial...

...but have never had a massage.

Or ask your jeweler on Main St. which of their shoppers have bought a gift for their wives for Christmas...

...but never for a birthday or anniversary.

Ask your insurance agent how he's handling people who've purchased car insurance with him...

...but not homeowners insurance.

Ask the owner of your favorite restaurant how many customers have come in for dinner...

...but never for lunch.

- October 8, 2018 -

Black hats vs white hats.

Everybody knows it was the way to tell the bad guys from the good guys in a typical western movie...most of the time.

Remember Tim Mix (way back to the silent movies) and John Wayne? Tex Ritter. The Lone Ranger.

Their hats were white or some shade of gray...but for the most part, not black.

It all started with the short 12-minute film The Great Train Robbery (1903.) A group of gangsters hold up a bank, rob a train, and eventually receive their comeuppance.

The gangsters all wear hats, some lighter than others.

But there’s one moment [...]

- September 13, 2018 -

The quickest way to go out of business is to be sentimental about how you made your money.

...sounds weird, but it's too easy to get all romantic about what's worked in the past and want it to keep working the same way forever.

You start making a few bucks using a certain strategy or tool - and you don't want it to go away or change.

But that's not how marketing work.

What worked with Google Adwords five years ago is totally obsolete today.

Facebook advertising? It changes more often than the Kardashian clan's next wacky commotion trends on social [...]

- September 10, 2018 -

"I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me NOW!"

Betcha thought I was finally published. Nah...maybe someday.

It's from a scene in the "rags-to-riches-back-to-rags-then-back-to-riches" movie “The Jerk” where Steve Martin sees his name in the White Pages.

He flips out, beyond excited that he is finally “somebody” because he sees his name in print.

Come on...we've all had our "Woohoo! I'm somebody, dammit!" moments.

We're human. We have egos.

We want status on some level...both personally and professionally.

That's a given. Obvious stuff.

But I want to dig a little deeper because there's a pretty valuable business lesson in the funnyman's [...]

- September 6, 2018 -

Technology is a catch-22.

...can't live with it.

...can't live without it.

...if developers aren't constantly updating their products, they're laggards.

...if they are constantly updating their products, we're forced to adapt or die trying.

Across our two businesses, we use a lot of tools: Infusionsoft, WordPress, Podio, Zapier, TeamWork...and a mess of others that I pay for because Cheryl says they're important.

But to be honest, when she starts talking about our tech stack...

All the plugins and what they do and why we need them...my head feels like it's going to explode!

And then I reach for either a golf club or [...]

- August 30, 2018 -

Ads...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

You watch the Super Bowl because of 'em.

For our wholesale real estate biz, we do a lot of ads on Craigslist.

Most real estate investors have a "love-hate" relationship with Craigslist. Some of the complaints I often hear in peer groups are...

"I've got to constantly repost my ads because they expire - BIG pain."

"The ads are magnets for other wholesalers - my competition."

"Investors who see the ads call realtors who then call me - too many middlemen now."

And yep, these are definitely limitations.

But any platform you use has limitations. I [...]

- August 28, 2018 -

I'm still getting replies from an email I sent out a couple of weeks ago about Cheryl's traffic ticket eluding antics.

Same question over and over. "Is this for real?"

Same answer every time: 'fraid so. Unbelievable, isn't it?

(In case you missed it, you can check it out here.)

Oh, it gets better.

Remember the TV show LA Law? It was popular back in the mid-80's to mid-90's.

Remember the character Grace Van Owen played by Susan Dey?

Hold that in your head...

Cheryl's always had a bit of a lead foot and on one particular day, she flew through a section of [...]

- July 31, 2018 -

You've got Match.com.

...and eharmony

...Coffee Meets Bagel

...Tinder

...SilverSingles

...Over70Dating (There's seriously a site for this?)

There's even a site called "EliteSingles" where they claim that more than 2/3 of their members hold either a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree.

I do have a point to all this.

Yesterday we were making some changes to our Request a Consult page and a thought dawned on me...

Think about it for a minute, people.

You Home page is your shot at giving a great first impression. And you get a very small window of time to answer these three questions: